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Rex groaned as he heard his phone vibrating on his bedside table. Without evening opening his eyes he waited for it to silence before slipping back into the wonderful void between asleep and awake. Until is started again.
“Someone better be dead.” He grumbled as he felt around for his phone, still refusing to open his eyes and answering with a swipe. “Someone had better be dead.” He growled into the phone, his head sinking back into his pillow.
He heard the unmistakable hardened chuckle of his oldest brother, “Not yet, but maybe if you don’t get over here.”
Rex pulled the phone away from his head and finally opened his eyes to the glare of the blue light. “Alpha, it’s ten AM on a freakin’ Saturday.” Rex complained.
“And if you want to continue to have your three younger brothers by eleven, you need to get over here.” Alpha replied pointedly.
Rex rolled over on to his back and wiped his hand over his face before turning his phone on speaker. “Why don’t you call Cody, or Wolffe, Or Fox, or Bly or…”
“Cody had a date with blue eyes and is currently occupied. Wolffe and Fox are camping; Bly is with Aayla tasting cakes for the wedding and if someone doesn’t get Echo and Hardcase out of this house in the next thirty minutes I cannot be held responsible for my actions.” Alpha ended with a growl.
“Echo and Hardcase? What about Fives? He’s unusually the…”
“Fives doesn’t leave my sight.” Alpha snarled.
Rex sighed as he sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. “Are you gunna tell me what they did?”
“When you get here. Hurry. There’s only so much rage I can keep at bay and Fives won’t. Stop. Talking.”
Rex nodded at the phone and hung up, tossing it back on the bed and allowing him a brief minute to collapse back into the warmth of the covers before getting up and throwing on a heavy blue and white sweatshirt his brothers had given him for his birthday.
Rex braved the snow and the drive thru for coffee and a donut before pulling up to the Fett family home. The large terrace house had barely been enough to contain all ten of his siblings but as they had gradually grown up and left, Alpha had been left with the youngest, all while trying to balance his transition from military man to civilian.
Alpha hadn’t been around much when the older kids were growing up. Raising them after Jango left fell to Wolffe and Cody. With them both out of the house and Alpha coming back, he had taken on the responsibility without any real idea of how it worked.
Rex had barely made it onto the front step when the door opened. Alpha grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and yanked him over the threshold. Rex’s coffee sloshes onto the Victorian tile and Alpha scowled at him.
“Don’t even try and say that was my fault.” Rex said, cutting off any haughty word from his brother.
“That way.” Alpha growled.
Rex followed his pointed finger into the kitchen where the floor was covered with towels as the cupboard under the sink had been pulled open, all the piping was missing, including whatever was behind the cabinet and embedded in the wall. Pieces of wood and drywall were scattered all over the countertops. He looked around, his eyes landing on Fives who was sitting straight upright at the kitchen table, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
“What the hell, Fives?” Rex asked, watching his brother continue to stare, the only indication he had heard him the slump in his shoulders.
Rex turned around and looked at Alpha for answers. “He won’t talk?”
“Can’t talk. He’s been banned for twenty-four hours.”
Rex’s eyes widened as he shoved his brother into the living room. “You can’t punish him like that. He’s a teenager, not a criminal.”
“I think that’s up for debate.”
Rex pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Next you’ll tell me you threatened to waterboard him.” he said.
Alpha shrugged and chuckled. “Only if he didn’t talk. I didn’t even get to the bathroom before he…”
“Okay, stop. Where are Hardcase and Echo?”
“Bedroom.”
“No way, it’s too…let me guess, they can’t talk either?”
“Now you’re getting it.”
Rex shook his head and stomped past him to the stairs. “Alpha, remind me when this is over to sign you up for childcare lessons. And tell Fives he can speak.”
Rex scoured the top floor for his missing brothers. With so much movement amongst the inhabitants of the house it wasn’t unusual for kids to change rooms frequently, but all the bedrooms were empty.
He came stomping downstairs, “Well, they snuck out.”
“What?” Alpha roared, a vain throbbing in his neck. “I told them to go to their room.”
Rex rolled his eyes. “Are you new here? Did you say, ‘go to your room’ or ‘stay in your room’?”
Alpha looked at him as if he was insane before looking over his shoulder at Fives who was failing to hide the smirk on his face.
Alpha pinched the bridge of his nose, “I said go to your room.”
Rex nodded. “Right. I’ll go look for them. Fives, any hints?”
Fives shrugged, his glee almost uncontainable at this point. “It’s a lovely day for a walk.” He said cryptically.
“Fantastic. Thanks for that.” Rex hissed.
***
Rex spent twenty minutes circling the neighborhood. He pulled the car over next to the entrance of the park. Snow was hanging heavily on the branches of evergreen trees, deep footsteps tracked in the snow. Rex sighed as his unfocused eyes lingered, suddenly noticing the unusual prints of one set of footsteps.
He chuckled to himself and shook his head as he got out of the car and locked it, shoving his hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt and feeling the wet snow slowly seeping into the ankle of his jeans.
He wasn’t sure why he was surprised, something like snow wouldn’t stop Echo. Nothing would, really. Out of all his brothers, older and younger, Echo was the most determined, despite all he’d had to endure.
For all of Five’s hijinks over the last year or so, Rex realized that most involved making the world an easier place to navigate for his brother. He hadn’t gotten over the guilt of being the driver during the crash, even though he had no way of stopping before the drunk driver slammed into them.
Echo had lost both his legs in the accident and spent a good three months in hospital as he recovered. No longer able to be the Captain of the Hockey team, Echo had dived headfirst into other things.
The cold wind whipped around the park as the trees fell away and he came to a small pond that he would visit with his older brothers to feed ducks when he was a kid. As he rounded the corner he froze.
Echo was sitting on a nearby bench, Hardcase kneeling in front of him, helping pull a makeshift prosthetic in place while his real legs sat next to him, gleaming in the low winter light. Rex noticed the off-white plastic piping from under the sink, at least a whole roll of duct tape and some other bits a pieces he didn’t recognize. He felt a rush of warmth for Fives, currently under hour arrest with Alpha. At the bottom of the prosthetic were old ice-skates that looked like they had seen better days.
“You gotta push, Case. Honestly. You’re not gunna hurt me. I can’t even feel it.” Echo said, slapping the end of his stump for emphasis.
Hardcase nodded but looked hesitant as he leaned on the skate, recoiling as a snap echoed around the pond. He fell backwards into the snow as Echo almost doubled over with laughter and wiped teams off his cheeks.
“It was the piping cracking, Case, not me.” He chuckled.
Rex decided it was a good time to reveal himself, striding forward as the brothers continued their conversation. “You know, Alpha’s gunna have you asses.” He said with a smirk as he stood in front of them, his hands still deep in his pockets as the winter wind howled.
Echo looked over at him defiantly, his chin jutting out in challenge. “We did what we were told. We went…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Rex replied with a shrug, “So, what’s all this?” he asked.
Echo and Hardcase shared a look, “Echo wanted to go skating.” Hardcase said, as though it was obvious.
Rex sighed and sat down next to Echo on the bench. “Echo, don’t you think this is a step too far? It’s been less than a year. Maybe you just don’t ice skate this year.” He said, as softly as he could.
“The competition’s next week. We had to see if he could.” Hardcase said as though stating the obvious.”
Rex fixed him with his best older brother stare, trying to impart the seriousness of what they were doing and the danger to Echo if it went wrong.
Echo crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. “I can do it, Rex. I know I can.” He said.
“Echo, you have already done so much. You learned to walk again. Drive again. You started running 5Ks in the summer. Can’t that be enough for now?”
Echo tightened his grip on himself and looked over at the pond.
“Fine. We’ll meet you at home.” Hardcase said as Echo sat up to protest his mouth hanging open in shock. “Come on, Echo.” He said, offering his brother his hand and winking. Echo’s attitude seemed to soften.
Rex laughed and looked behind him as though expecting to see Alpha looming over them all. “Do I look like an idiot to you?” he asked them both.
Hardcase hung his head while Echo continued to scowl. Rex sighed and pulled his hood up over his cold ears. “Can you stand up?” he asked Echo.
Echo grinned and nodded, slapping away Hardcase’s hand of support and gradually pressing himself up with the help of the bench. He dusted the snow off his hands as he defiantly came to a wobbly standing position.
Despite his earlier irritation, Rex couldn’t help but be impressed and proud, not just of Echo, but Fives and Hardcase as well. Fives must have spent hours removing the pipes and sticking them together in some semblance of prosthetics. He still wasn’t sure how Hardcase had helped Echo get out of the house, but he was convinced it likely involved carrying him out of an upper floor window.
He watched as Echo stared longingly at the lake, the tall reeds sticking out of the frozen water. He took a tentative step forward, the ankle of his right ‘leg’ wobbling in the large space between the ice skate and the pipe.
“Here,” Hardcase said, whipping off his boots and pulling off his thick winter socks, rolling them around to fill the gap and give Echo a little more stability.
Echo looked down at his slightly older brother and smiled, “Thanks Case.” He said as waited for him to back away, before taking another, much steadier step.
Rex held his breath as Echo slowly moved towards the lake with Hardcase following slowly behind, just within reach if he needed to dive for him, but far enough away so it didn’t seem like he was hovering. Rex had to appreciate the sensitivity his little brother was showing, at the tender age of eighteen.
Echo looked back at Rex as he made it to the edge. Rex didn’t have the heart to stop him, not now, even if it was ludicrous. He gave a tiny nod, knowing it would be on him if something went wrong.
Echo smiled broadly and stepped onto the lake, the ice-skates making a tink, tink, tink sound as they dug into the uneven layer of ice. Echo pushed off, and Rex was drawn forward to stand next to Hardcase, both silent as the bitter wind whipped around them.
Echo moved more gracefully than you would imagine given the circumstances. He didn’t glide like he used to or have the ferocious speed that would knock teammates and opponents off kilter, but he moved.
He was halfway across the pond now, each quiver of an ‘ankle’ making Rex stand straighter, as though he would have to run for him to drag him off the ice. But Echo didn’t look worried at all. He shifted his weight and the quivering stopped. His face set into a firm, satisfied line as he slowly made his way back to them after a few more rounds, feeling cheeky enough to stop short so a spray of ice flew over his brothers. The action seemed to knock him off balance and he teetered over, his ass hitting the ice hard.
Rex sucked in his breath, fearing the worst when both Echo and Hardcase burst out laughing.
“That was amazing,” Hardcase cheered, throwing out his hand to his brother and helping him off the ice. To Rex’s surprise, Echo had no problem with the assistance offered, looking back at the lake with an expression of relief so complete that he was amazed by it.
“Hypothesis tested, I guess.” Echo said as he panted. He smiled up at Rex and nodded his thanks. “Now, we need to make the real ones.” He shuffled over to the bench and pulled off the makeshift prosthetics before gently sliding on his regular ones, bounding up and jumping with a sigh, “God, these feel so much better,” he grinned, the blade like feet slicing easily through the snow.
Hardcase clapped him on the back, “Wait to we tell Fives! He’ll definitely have to come with us next time.”
Rex felt a lump in his throat as he watched his two younger siblings high five and gather their equipment before walking back along the path with a crunch. He looked back at the pond, seeing the skate lines in the ice and smiled.
***
Alpha was waiting for them on the doorstep as Rex pulled up and Echo and Hardcase bundled out of the car, the smiles immediately dropping off their faces.
“Er, why don’t you two go upstairs.” He said loud enough for his brother to hear. He followed quickly after them and watched Alpha step aside, his intense gaze not wavering from them as they thundered up the stairs.
Rex heard an explosion of sound as they must have come across Fives and updated him on their experiment. Alpha turned as if planning on barking something up the stairs, when Rex stepped over the threshold, cutting him off.
“Skating,” he said with a shrug as he made his way to the kitchen. All the towels had been picked up, except for the ones under the sink. “We should probably get some replacement…”
“What do you mean, skating?” Alpha asked from the entranceway.
Rex chuckled and shook his head. “They used the pipes for prosthetics so Echo could skate.”
Alpha blinked at him and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. “Were you guys like this when you were younger?” he asked as last.
Rex laughed, “I don’t think any of us can claim to be like Echo and Fives, Alpha. They are definitely unique. But we all had our moments.”
“So, now I have to worry about Echo sneaking out and trying to skate?” Alpha asked.
“Oh, there’s no trying about it, he did it.”
“WHAT?!” Alpha growled.
“It was actually pretty impressive.” Rex said with a grin.
“Rex, he can’t ice skate. It’s dangerous. We just got him back. He’s only been walking without a cane for a few months.”
“He can and he did, Alpha. That kid is gunna be back on the team in no time.”
Alpha shook his head. “You and I both know that won’t happen.”
Rex scowled at his older brother and crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s already lost enough. If he wants to do this, we need to help him.” Alpha opened his mouth to protest. “If you don’t agree, ask Cody or Wolffe or Bly or Fox or Fives or Hardcase.”
“Maybe I will.” Alpha spat, sounding more like the petulant teenagers he was responsible for.
Rex rolled his eyes and looked around. “Well, I guess you don’t need my help anymore…unless you want me to call a plumber.”
Alpha narrowed his eyes. If Rex hadn’t grown up with Wolffe, who was equally formidable, me may have been concerned. He patted Alpha on the shoulder as he passed.
He climbed up the stairs to say goodbye to his little brothers and heard their voices hush at the sound of his footsteps. He found them in Echo and Fives room. Fives was hanging off the top bunk as Echo ferociously scribbled in a notepad by his bed.
“See ya, boys. I’d try and keep out of Alpha’s way for the rest of the day if I were you.” He said as he leaned on the doorframe.
They nodded innocently and Rex rolled his eyes. “Working on the next model already?” he asked, lowering if voice so it couldn’t carry down the stairs.
Echo smiled sheepishly and looked at Fives. “Todays was just a preliminary trial.” Echo replied, “but we’ll get there.”
“I’m sure you will.” Rex replied, feeling the familiar throb of pride as Echo smiled up at him.
They said their goodbyes and as soon as Rex was out of the doorway, the volume was turned up again. He chuckled and shook his head as he came down the stairs, remembering when he had shared that room with Cody and the shenanigans they got into.
***
Rex’s alarm went off at eight AM and he had to fight with himself to get up. One of these Saturdays, he’d be able to actually sleep in.
The family house was still quiet as he pulled up and let himself in. Sneaking through the kitchen and unlocking the door to the backyard. His brothers had been more than amiable to his idea, and even more interested when he told them it would likely rub Alpha the wrong way.
By the time he had moved all the supplies in and started a pot of coffee, his brother started trickling in. First, Cody, who couldn’t help but be on time. He was pathological and someone the family always set their watches by.
Wolffe was next, dragging a sleepy Fox behind him with the promise of coffee. Bly came next, insisting that he only had a few hours before he had to get back to help with wedding planning. Jesse peeked in a little later than requested, possibly still drunk from the college party the night before while Kix trailed after him looking hungover.
Rex told them the plan in a hushed voice, his eyes flying to the window above where he knew Alpha would be sleeping. The good thing about his military background was that he could usually sleep through anything and as Rex got out the nail gun, he and his brothers were about to put that to the test.
They were able to build the frame in no time. It covered most of the yard, but it wasn’t like they used it for anything else during the winter.
Alpha didn’t come downstairs until the group was on their third pot of coffee and Wolffe and Fox has nailed their fingers to the wooden frame. Luckily, Kix was an EMT and was able to help.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, standing in the door of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in one had and one of the donuts Cody had brought in the other.
“I guess it’s the answer to our disagreement last week.” Rex said smugly as his brothers all stood behind him in support.
“You really think a skating rink is a good idea?” Alpha asked Cody.
“It’s easier to keep an eye on Echo here. Besides, it’ll give Fives and Hardcase something to do too that doesn’t involved video games or testing the flammability of certain fabrics.”
Alpha pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is that another incident you guys happened to forget about when I got home?” he asked.
Cody shared a wry smile with Wolffe and shrugged, “You honestly don’t have time for the whole list, Alpha.”
To Rex’s surprise, Alpha got dressed and came out to help finish the project. By the time Echo, Fives, and Hardcase knew something was going on, it was done.
“No way.” Echo said slowly as he walked outside, taking a moment to look at every single one of his brothers in attendance.
“Figured maybe you’d get more time to practice if you had one at home.” Rex said with a shrug. They weren’t the most touchy, feely kind of family, but Echo was clearly touched by the gesture. He scratched at the small little circles of missing hair on his head where for some reason, probes to measure his brainwaves after the accident had led to permanent bald spots.
“This is…”
Fives threw himself out of the door without shoes on and skidded onto the homemade ice rink. “Echo, get your skates.” He yelled, yelping as the cold from the ice seeped through his socks. He quickly got off and went back inside for some warmer clothes.
In five minutes, the brothers all stood off to the side as Echo skated around in the backyard.
“You win this round, I guess.” Alpha whispered in Rex’s ear. He started and moved away slightly. His oldest brother chuckled and threw his arm around his shoulder. “Can’t wait to get back at you for this though, Rex.”
Rex smiled as Echo waved at him and attempted a pirouette that was clunky and almost ended in a spill, but thankfully didn’t.
Rex smiled back at his brother, “It’ll be worth it, brother. Trust me.”
***
“Alright, where is it then?” Rex asked as he walked into the backroom of Echo’s studio.
“Wow, Rex, what’s with the beard?” Echo replied with a grin as he came over and pulled his older brother into a hug.
“This is not the first time you’ve seen this.” Rex replied with an eye roll.
“I mean, I guess not. But with your shaved head, you kind of look like Santa.”
Rex shoved his little brother away playfully and looked around the room. It was cluttered and dirty, long benches filled with prosthetics in different stages of production. “Looks like you’re doing well.” He said with a nod of pride.
Echo shrugged humbly and grabbed a prosthetic next to him that had interchangeable parts so a kid could play any sport they chose. “Fives is definitely good at stirring up business.” He said.
Rex looked around the room and still couldn’t see it. “Okay, come on. Where is it?” he asked.
Echo cast his eyes over to a small metal hook that held a couple of dirty aprons and on top of them, a gold medal.
“Echo, you can’t be serious. You’ve gotta have it in a more prestigious place. It’s a paralympic medal.”
Echo smiled and shrugged again. “Yeah, it was fun.” He replied, “but I’ve got an order to complete for a hockey team and they’re picking it up next week, so I don’t really get to celebrate.”
Rex shifted awkwardly from side to side, “well, you should have probably mentioned that to Hardcase, cos he’s got quite the thing planned.”
Echo’s amber eyes seemed to glow as he smiled and scratched at his head, long since shaved as he grew frustrated with his patchy hair growth. “I’ll pretend to be surprised. Don’t worry. Is Alpha gunna be there?”
Rex chuckled and looked down at the medal. “Are you kidding? You’re officially his favorite. He wouldn’t miss it for the world. Even if he’s getting old as shit.”
Echo chuckled and took hold of the medal, looking down at it with the same determination and pride he’d had on his face on the first day he got back on skates.
“You know, I owe this to you. To all of you really. Without that rink I probably never would have…”
Rex shook his head and took hold of the medal, hanging it around Echo’s neck and patting it gently. “You owe this to no one but you, Echo. We’re proud of you. I’m proud of you. But you did this. Not us.”
Echo smiled, a faint blush covering his perpetually pale cheeks. “Thanks, Rex.”
Rex smiled, “Come on. Your party awaits. Paralympic champion.” Echo rolled his eyes but grabbed his coat anyway and followed his brother out.